Spirit of Vietnam, Part 2
On May 31, we left Hue on an air-conditioned mini bus. Our journey took the coastal Highway 1 further south along a good road. The scenery was, as usual, stunningly Vietnamese. Here the rice fields alternate with fish farms where large square shaped holding reservoirs are constantly aerated with mechanical paddles.
About 100km south of Hue we crossed over the appropriately named Hi Van pass. At the pass summit we stopped for drinks and ice creams and clambered up to an old French lookout fort. From here you could look north along the Vietnamese coast as well as south to the city of Danang and it’s surrounding bay. During the Vietnamese war Danang was the main port and airstrip used by the American Army for transit of troops and supplies. So, as you can imagine this lookout post was strategic in the defense of the city and harbor.
Along the road south of Danang are the Marble Mountains. These are five Marble hillocks which were once islands. Each represents the five ancient elements – fire, earth, water, wind (I don’t remember). We climbed the main mountain where you come across a Buddhist temple and eerie caves with natural lighting from holes in the cave roof. Inside the cave the monks have placed various idols and icons, giving it an even more chilling atmosphere.
Back out in the sun again we scrambled to the summit where we had a view of the long stretch of beach used by American troops for R&R during the war. The beach achieves notoriety from an American TV series called “China Beach“.
We arrived at our destination, Hoi An, at around lunch time. This is a charming little port town on the Thu Bon River. Much of its charm comes about because large parts of the town look exactly as they did a century and a half ago. The small streets are lined with lined with a mixture of quaint Chinese and French colonial buildings. Also famous in Hoi An are the many tailor shops which can make up any item of clothing within one day.
In Hoi An we spent two nights. I decided to make things a bit easier and hired a motorcycle to get around. Although not as hectic as the traffic in the main cities the rules of the road are still very different but by now I felt brave enough to give it a try. Carol was fitted for two lovely silk dresses by the most camp, but friendliest person I have ever met. Dealing with Mr. Zu and all the laughs we got from the fittings was worth the price of the dresses themselves. One lunch time Carol and I were having lunch in a restaurant 4 or 5 blocks from Mr. Zu’s shop when all of a sudden he came running in to reconfirm some of Carol’s measurements. How is that for service? How he found us I have no idea but it was appreciated so that the dresses were made correctly. Obviously the grapevine works very well in Hoi An. I managed to get some clothes made for my children, Stejay and Savannah. We also bought some very nice Chinese lanterns.
With the bike we managed to take a ride to Cua Dai beach, 5 km from town. This was almost deserted apart from the pushy but friendly fruit and drink sellers.
We decided to pamper ourselves. I got a traditional, old-fashioned shave from a barber. I was sat into the barber’s chair and tilted right back so the guy could get at me with his cut throat razor. I must say I was a bit anxious, one slip and I be drinking beer down a different gullet. I didn’t move a muscle until the whole procedure was finished. Carol negotiated for herself a pedicure and manicure and got one for me included into the deal. All this for just a few US dollars.
My culinary tour of South East Asia continued. The group had arranged a demonstration of Vietnamese cooking from a very entertaining local called Hai. We were shown how to cook fish in banana leaves, spring rolls and stir fried pork with vegetables. Of course, we got to eat everything afterwards.
Hoi An is a must see for anyone visiting Vietnam. The place is very laid back and friendly. Women love shopping for clothes here and Carol was in her element. Most of the bars have five hour happy hours and evenings are very sociable with the many local Hoi An characters – Mr. Zu and Hai – coming out and mingling with the tourists.
On June 2 we caught a flight from Danang to Ho Chi Minh City. It wasn’t a particularly bad flight but it was on the plane when Carol’s phobia for flying got the better of her. Although trying to control herself she just went to pieces by hyper-ventilating and was visibly stressed. The 40-minute flight seemed to last forever and by the end of it even I was anxious whenever the plane slightly shook or bumped.
In Saigon our hotel was right next to the Reunification Palace, famous for the tanks that burst through the front gates when the South Vietnamese government fell in 1975. The tanks can still be seen on the front lawn of the palace. Carol and I spent some time walking around the backpacker area of Pham Ngu Lao whilst the rest of the group headed to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels used by the Viet Cong to terrorize American forces during the war. The reason Carol and I didn’t join this tour was we both wanted to watch the opening games in the Soccer World Cup for England and South Africa respectively. South Africa got a late equalizer to earn a good 2-2 draw against Paraguay. Whilst England disappointingly drew 1-1 with Sweden.
The next day was the last tour organized for the group. I was going to return to the Mekong River, which I had last seen when crossing the Friendship Bridge from Laos back into Thailand one month previously.
The bus from Saigon passed through the busy suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City. Somewhere around the outskirts we stopped at a Cao Dai temple. This strange religion exists only in Vietnam. It combines the various epochs of Confucianism, Christianity, Taoism and Buddhism – Islam was later added to this list. The customs and psychologies of these religions were designed at a time when the people of the world had little contact with each other. Because the whole world has now been explored the time had come to bring about an intelligent re-organization. This divine amalgamation would be called Cao-Daism. Saints of this religion are still in the process of being formed and include Victor Hugo, Joan of Arc and de la Rochefoucauld.
Weird or what?
We headed on to Mytho City. Here we took a tour around the swamps, inlets and canals of the Delta. This is a rich agricultural region, the breadbasket (or rice basket) of the nation. The islands contain flat, luscious green farmlands. Crossing one of the main channels of the Mekong river we saw many small local craft loaded with produce heading for market. These would weave between the huge ferries that run continuously between two Vietnamese provinces.
Our boat tour visited a bee and snake farm, where Carol, despite being petrified of spiders is not to perturbed by bees. Unfortunately she did get stung whilst posing for a picture. Shame, what she has to put up with for me. We also visited a coconut candy factory, which is situated right next to a stinky fish sauce factory. We were served lunch on one of the many islands and typically it consisted of locally caught fish and seafood.
That evening, back in Saigon, we were given a cyclo tour of the centre of town. This city is definitely more modern than the capital, Hanoi. It still bears the ruminants of its French colonial period, with the American influence from the war thrown in. The Notre Dame Cathedral is impressive, except the side walls are used as a toilet by the locals.
The main post office is built in a grand style. Inside, Ho Chi Minh is honored in pictures and statues. Outside, right next door is a KFC with Colonel Sanders looking down. Now these two icons bear a very similar resemblance. In fact, Adam our tour leader, puts some very convincing theories forward.
Just some thoughts worth pondering?
Our tour finished with drinks on the balcony of the Rex Hotel. This is a very up market hotel where the US military would release every day at 5pm a communique about the progress of the war. The figures presented in this communique were rather dubious in their accuracy and these news conferences become to be known as the “five o’clock follies” by the press corps.
Our group’s final dinner together was a nice way to say goodbye to all our new found friends. It was a fun 10 days traveling down Vietnam together. A huge thanks to everyone who made the trip so memorable for Carol and I, especially to Adam whose leadership was very competent and entertaining.
Carol and I still had four more days in Vietnam. So on Tuesday we caught a bus to the nicest beach town in Vietnam, Nha Trang. The turquoise waters are lined with a long white beach. This is a perfect venue for fishing and diving. No diving for me though, as it was the last days of Carol’s holiday I spent it giving her some quality time.
We didn’t actually do much except chill out on the beach, sunning ourselves. Some evenings we spent at the Nha Trang Sailing Club which is perfectly set up alongside the beach and seems to be the main traveler’s hang out. I did rent a motorbike again so we were able to get about easily.
One day we drove a bit to the north of the town to visit the Po Nagar Cham Towers. These are Hindu worshipping towers built between the 7th and 12th centuries on the left bank of the Cai River.
On our last day on Nha Trang we did the famous Mama Han’s Boat trip – except this one run by TM Brothers was just as good. The day was spent island hopping in the bay. Carol being very brave enjoyed snorkeling around one island with a rubber ring on. After another hearty lunch on board our boat we were entertained by the boat crew with some tongue in cheek music. The afternoon was spent around a floating bar drinking red wine, again Carol was up for it with her rubber ring on.
Finally in the evening we made it back to Nha Trang town in time to see England achieve a famous 1-0 victory in the World Cup over their arch-rivals Argentina. All in all a top day.
Carol and I caught the overnight bus back to Ho Chi Minh City which got us back early Saturday morning. We had just enough time to visit the War Remnants Museum before catching a flight back to Bangkok.
The museum is ironically housed in the former US Information Services building. This is by far Vietnam’s most popular war museum. Many of the atrocities are on display. These were well published in the west and many anti-war protests took place against the Pentagon. It is harrowing however to see the victims of the military and political actions tell their own story. Noticeable by their absence are the atrocities committed by the Viet Cong on its own people. No matter which side of the political fence you stand on the museum is well worth a visit. Outside on display are the US tanks, planes and helicopters, whilst inside is the photographic documentation of the war. A sobering reminder that war is anything but glamorous.
Our Thai International flight back to Bangkok was delayed by an hour. Which gave me a chance to see the first half of South Africa’s World Cup match. This included the goal which would eventually take “the boys” to our first ever victory in the World Cup finals. A point from our last game with Spain and we’re through to the second round. Come on the Bafana Bafana!!!
Back in noisy, polluted Bangkok Carol and I had one last day together before she left back to England. We each had lots of shopping to do as I was sending back all that luggage I had in storage from trekking in Nepal as well as all my souvenirs and gifts that I had collected over the last four months.
Eventually the time for Carol to leave arrived. She arrived in South-East Asia exactly one month ago and we covered a lot of mileage through Thailand and Vietnam. It was a lot of fun having her with me and showing her around. Somehow to continue traveling alone without her doesn’t seem quite so attractive now. I hope she enjoyed her time with me and shows off the many, many photos we took of our holiday with pride.
At the airport our combined luggage was way over the limit. After pleading with the flight attendant at the check-in desk she only charged us for 5kg overweight. I still had to take out a stack of books that I couldn’t bear to part with and wanted to send back. The price for the excess luggage came to just over US$100.
All to soon Carol’s flight was called. The fear and stress started showing on her face. We had a good hug and kiss whilst sniveling on each other’s shoulders.
Then she was gone.
